CHAPTER VI.
Whilst the cart was rolling slowly along the Neckar valley, Erastus gradually regained his composure. His daughter's image in all its purity and goodness appeared before his eyes. This harmless child might have been led astray, but had never been depraved. The humiliated father called to mind every conversation which she had had in his presence with the Priest, and felt fully convinced that morally his child was pure and unspotted, whatever might have been the cause of the extraordinary nightly adventure. He begged his companions to drive quicker, as he longed to interrogate Lydia face to face. The cart rolled rapidly through the streets of the town, though it trailed up the steep Schlossberg much too slowly for the impatient Erastus. But on the carter wishing to drive over the draw-bridge he found the entry blocked up. A vehicle guarded by four riders had just driven into the court-yard. Near a police-officer of the Palatinate sat with fettered hands the former Parson, Adam Neuser. Wearied and dejected he gazed straight before him. His hair had become grayer, his complexion more sun-burnt. Otherwise the flight with its many privations appeared to have agreed with him better than the boozing life at the Hirsch. He had wandered much about the world, but had been unable to make without recommendations, without testimonials, without a name, any position for himself. Fortune and his star had abandoned him. Thus utterly discouraged, degraded as to body and soul, with torn clothing, and but a few pence in his pockets, he found himself in a tavern near the Danube where he had put up for the night, next to the children's room. Whilst the heat from the hot kitchen warmed delightfully his stiffened limbs, and he listened to the childish prattle of the children, a longing to see his own family once more overpowered him. It seemed to him as if his wife brought to him their youngest child, which wrapped in a woollen cloth felt as warm as the chimney against which he leant, and the little one placed his cheek against his father's and nibbled at it, as if to try, whether he tasted as good as did its mother. And next he saw his second little daughter stumbling about before him, and who only now beginning to talk called all four-footed animals from the horse downwards "wau" and all winged creatures from the fly upwards "bibi" and mankind "man". And his little Jack showed him his slate with the exercises which he had written, and the butterflies which he had caught in the garden. A heavy sadness came over the stout Parson, and he shut his eyes, as do the chickens, by raising the lower eyelid upwards, whilst the upper remained stationary, as was his wont, whenever he felt gently moved, and he fell asleep. In his dreams he fancied himself once more in his comfortable chair near the round table at the Hirsch in Heidelberg, and Chancellor Probus congratulated him in a friendly manner on his return. "All is forgiven and forgotten. As a matter of course," he distinctly heard the Chairman of their meeting say in his deep tones. At these words of the honored gentleman so intense was the joy that came over Parson Neuser that he awoke, and called out as did Doctor Luther at Koburg: "Home, home, home!" He trusted certainly that his wife had burnt the dangerous papers in good time. He did not think of the mad address which he had written in a moment of drunken intoxication to Sultan Selim II., and with his usual buoyancy he imagined, that if the worst came to the worst he would get off with a mild punishment. He surrendered himself up to the magistrate at Amberg, who immediately sent him on to Heidelberg, where the trial of his companions was still taking place. Erastus was glad, that Neuser did not notice him. He did not feel inclined to greet this foolish man who had drawn this calamity on himself and his family. But the gate still remained closed and Erastus fretted with impatience at the enforced delay. Finally the trotting of horses and the rattling of a cart was heard within. Another cart guarded by armed men escorting a prisoner appeared. This time however it was Sylvanus who sat near the officer. The once so stately man looked pale and haggard, his eyes were sunken and an expression of resigned despondency lay on his wan face. At his feet sat his nine-year old son, who was allowed by order of the kind-hearted Kurfürst to accompany him to his prison, although the clergymen of the court had violently opposed this soul-destroying indulgence on the part of the Kurfürst. The prisoner was being taken to Mannheim, so as to prevent any communication between himself and Neuser. On seeing Erastus, Sylvanus stretched out his hands towards him as if imploring for aid. The physician also raised his hand, but let it drop wearily down, as if to express how powerless he himself was. He was thinking of some kindly expression when the driver whipped up the horses and they rolled under the dark gate-way. Immediately on reaching his apartment Erastus inquired for Lydia. She had gone to pay a visit to Frau Belier, as she had only expected her father at a late hour, still she might be back at any moment. Erastus' eye now caught sight of a large envelope among his papers, bearing the seal of the Church Council, but addressed to him in his mere capacity of Doctor of Medicine. Surprised he broke it open, expecting some fresh misfortune. The youthful President Zuleger informed him in brief terms that the Church Council had found it advisable to issue their ban of excommunication over him. His conscience would sufficiently explain to him the causes of this step. "No Pope who at any time sent forth the fulmen of excommunication ever did it with more comfort to himself," hissed Erastus. Till he could again be admitted to participate in the Communion of the Lord's Supper, it added, he was forbidden to attend the meetings of the Church Council. Trembling with rage and emotion he held in his lame hand the document, whilst he seized his hat with the other, saying to the terrified maid-servant: "I must go immediately to the Prince." The anxious old woman wanted to induce him to take some refreshment, but he hurried out, merely leaving word that Lydia should wait for him at home, as he had something important to tell her.
The Kurfürst was sitting in his private room in the new court, which we have already described, as Erastus requested the page to beg an audience in his name. Utterly worn out by his exertions the wearied man heard the Prince within talking loudly and earnestly. After a time the Magistrate, Hartmann Hartmanni appeared at the door and passed him by without notice. Now at length was Erastus allowed to enter.
"I was about to send for you this afternoon," said the stout Prince good-naturedly, "as it is not my habit to condemn any one unheard. Sit down. What we have to talk about, will not be decided within the hour." The wearied physician gloomily took his seat on the chair pointed out to him. "The report of the spiritual members of the Church Council on the arian clergymen has been sent in," began the Kurfürst. "Before discussing your matter. I should like to hear what you think about it?"
"The theological gentlemen have not deemed it necessary to send me a copy," said Erastus coldly.
"Did you not attend the preliminary meetings as to the result of the inquiry?"
"What advantage would it have been to me?" replied Erastus bitterly. "In Your Gracious Highness' Church Council there are three kinds of Counsellors. The Jurists read the documents and report their contents. The learned Doctors do not read yet nevertheless report on them, the Theologians read them and report totally differently to what is written in them. When I saw that I remained away."
"Your old song," growled the Kurfürst fretfully. "But now I must read you a report instead of your doing so to me. First of all then," he said turning over the leaves of the report above mentioned, "these gentlemen enjoin on me, that whosoever acquits those blasphemers, is as much an abomination in the sight of God, as the blasphemers themselves." Erastus shrugged his shoulders contemptuously. "The first part refers to the blasphemies, invectives, and repudiation of the Christian dogmas by these clergymen, as well as their endeavours to unite themselves with the Turks. All the points in Sylvanus' libel are clearly marked out, and it is thus evident, that the Inspector intended to taint the world with his blasphemies. Do you differ from this opinion?"
"No," answered Erastus, "Sylvanus' letter deserves punishment. But I cannot possibly look upon Neuser's ridiculous composition as a serious production, more especially as it is endorsed: potest omitti. I believe that the foolish man wrote it in a drunken mood, and though he read it again when more sober, he was too lazy to burn the document and wrote instead: 'need not be forwarded.' Sylvanus has been however severely punished by his long imprisonment and regrets his aberration sincerely. Most certainly those two cannot go unpunished, but the only question is what punishment those gentlemen consider fitting?"
"That is just the point," said the Kurfürst sorrowfully. "These theologians continually refer to the divine law as it is written in the Books of Moses. There it is commanded, to stone such blasphemers, to pierce them with the sword, to burn them. The words of the Vth Book of Moses Chapter 13 are clear. 'If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him, thine hand shall be the first upon him to put him to death and afterwards the hand of all the people, and thou shalt stone him with stones that he die because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God.'" The Kurfürst put down the report and looked earnestly at Erastus.
"Do those gentlemen really wish to introduce stoning into the Palatinate?" asked Erastus mockingly.
"No," answered the Kurfürst. "Further on it is stated, 'It is certain that as to this qualitas, circumstantia, or fact, namely as regards stoning, the christian authorities are not bound thereto, but that they may make use of the sword, or hanging or some other means of destroying life. If however the sin is not visited upon the head of him who has sinned, God will pour out his wrath upon the entire people, who have not rooted out the transgressor. But to increase and call forth God's wrath which has already been kindled as shown by the plague, would be the most horrible cruelty towards the entire christian community.'"
"To calmly sit in the lofty rooms of the chancellory, and to offer up an atoning sacrifice to the angel of the plague on the green-cloth of the table, is much easier," said Erastus bitterly, "than to oppose him on the sick-bed and to fumigate his haunts. I think however that Your Highness can be at rest. Our God is not so revengeful as are those pious learned men of God."
"True, true," sighed the Kurfürst, "but these gentlemen point out that further on God has commanded in Moses V. Chapter 13 thus that the inhabitants of a city fallen from God shall be smitten with the sword even to the small children, and those that prophesy falsely shall be rooted out whether they turn from their ways or not."
"Fine, fine," said Erastus angrily. "Then indeed was Pius IV. right when he slew four thousand Waldensees in Calabria and destroyed their villages, trees and vineyards. The Duke of Guise was justified at Vassy in shooting women and children. The Jesuit Possevin was right when he led two thousand arquebusiers against the Protestants in Piedmont. Verily it is so written! Fie, upon the fools!"
"Truly," continued the Kurfürst. "What difference would there be between me and those bloody men at Paris and Madrid, if I were to follow out such advice? They write to me, that they themselves would be responsible for the wrath of God, which has already been kindled, if they prolonged the finite life of the blasphemers, and suffered the Honor of God which has been trodden under foot by so many varied damnable blasphemies, to remain thus trampled upon through a godless leniency. It is all very well for them to talk. They do not know what it means to dip a pen and wipe out a human life by one's own signature."
"Your Gracious Highness' christian conscience is more satisfying to me than the wisdom of the Church Council and all the Faculties. I pray God may keep both your conscience and heart strong in this matter. But what has Your Gracious Highness decided upon?"
"The matter is not yet ripe for sentence," said the Prince. "I will ask my brother in Dresden to look over the report of the trial, as well as the theologians at Zurich, that thereby Judges may look into the case, who cannot be suspected of personal enmity against the accused. We disciples of Calvin dare not in matters of general belief be more sanguinary, or appear more lax than those of Luther or Zwingli."
Erastus bowed his head assentingly.
"The Theologians also demand that a codicil be added to the inquiry," continued the Kurfürst with a troubled look.
"Sylvanus in his letters to the Transylvanians mentions several as holding the same views as himself who would be willing to migrate thither, Neuser does the same in his letter to the Sultan. Being asked during the trial, who these accomplices might be, Sylvanus named Neuser, Neuser, Sylvanus. In the same way Vehe mentioned Suter, and Suter Vehe. The Church Council thinks therefore that these matters call for a strict inquiry, or searching inquisition."
"That means," cried Erastus excitedly, "that the prisoners must be racked till they name as accomplices any one who may be opposed to Olevianus. Quotes this ruffianly fox any scriptural authority for such a proceeding?"
"Certainly," said the Kurfürst taking up the report once more. "The Lord says Moses V, 13. 14.: Tunc inquires, investigabis ac interrogabis diligenter. That is 'thou shalt inquire, interrogate and investigate diligently.' The Lord commands such a diligent and accurate investigation, in order that the authorities may not overlook such evils, or become careless, inattentive or drowsy. That such sin be not committed, it is not sufficient that the prisoners acknowledge their own blasphemies, they must likewise be compelled to name their accomplices. And for that cause as God does not command this diligence with one word alone, but insists upon it with three distinct words, and says: inquires, investigabis ac interrogabis diligenter, it is certain that the authorities who remained satisfied with the wicked lies of the prisoners, would act with remissness." The Kurfürst laid down the documents.
"Horrible!" cried out Erastus.
"Calm yourself," said the Prince. "Torture would in this case only render the matter worse. I shall not permit it."
"God reward you, gracious Prince, for making the council of evil doers of no avail."
"Justice must be on both sides," said the Prince thoughtfully. "What I am about to say to you now will perhaps not meet with so much approval from you." Saying this he took up another bundle of papers, while his brow became overcast. "The Church Council informs me that it has been forced to issue the ban of excommunication over you, which as a spiritual court it has the authority to do, through the power given by Christ to his Church, without asking the consent of the Sovereign of the land, nay more even against him in person."
"To his Church," cried Erastus. "Since when however do the few counsellors mentioned by the Sovereign, constitute the Church."
"Let us drop that matter for the moment," replied the Kurfürst. "For the present let us inquire into the cause of this step. Here is the deposition of Dr. Pigavetta, accusing you of being the especial head of the Arian conspiracy."
"Pigavetta," ejaculated Erastus.
"Calm yourself; if I doubted you, you would not be sitting here but in the great Tower. The facts adduced by the italian Doctor, do not amount to much. That you went often to Ladenburg with Xylander and even drove out with him, that Sylvanus also as he was being brought in here begged you to warn Neuser, that you in every case have taken under your care and protection the imprisoned blasphemers does not prove anything to me. Here however is the sworn assertion that you have concealed Neuser's papers and hidden them in your apartment, as they would never be sought for in the Castle itself." The Kurfürst stopped short.
"Will Your Gracious Highness order my apartment to be searched from cellar to garret; if a line of Neuser's be found, let my head be laid between my feet," said Erastus coldly.
"For your sake I am sorry, but not to draw down on myself the reproach of partiality, I could not spare you this." The Prince summoned a page by knocking on the table, and ordered the Amtmann Hartmann Hartmanni to be admitted. The Amtmann appeared at the door holding a bundle of papers under his arm. From his remarks it could be gathered that he had already fulfilled his commission whilst Erastus was being retained in audience. The astonished physician fixed his eyes on the Prince. This proceeding during his absence was new to him. It showed him, how low he had already fallen.
"You have completed the search of the papers belonging to my Counsellor?" asked the Kurfürst.
"No great search was necessary," replied Herr Hartmann. "Neuser's papers laid on the top."
"How!" called out the Kurfürst and Erastus at the same time. The Magistrate handed some papers over to the Prince.
"The plague take it!" called out Frederic the Pious, looking at Erastus with flaming eyes.
Erastus pressed forwards and turned the papers over with trembling hands. "A letter of Neuser's to Blandrata, a document from Beckhess the Transylvanian ambassador, letters of the Superintendent David in Klausenburg, letters of Vehe, Suter, and Sylvanus ..." Angrily he threw the bundle down on the table. "I do not know anything about these letters. A rascally trick to destroy me! Where did you find these papers, Amtmann?"
"In your desk."
The Kurfürst looked stedfastly at Erastus, as if he wished to read to the bottom of his soul. "Remember, most Gracious Lord," said the physician, "that for months a scaffolding has stood before my windows, and that anyone who wishes can enter my apartment."
The prince appeared for a while to struggle within himself, and then asked. "Did you discover anything else?"
The Magistrate smiled mockingly, and handed a note over to Erastus. "Is that your hand-writing. Counsellor?"
Erastus cast a glance at the writing. "Yes, it is."
"This letter lay also among Neuser's papers, most Gracious Lord," said the Amtmann. "Hear what the Counsellor writes to this conspirator. 'Dear Herr Adam! I have received your letter and quite agree with you. Matters are going on well, to-morrow you will receive the required pass, and then follow my directions exactly in all things, greet the Inspector. Your friend!' Does Your Highness now believe that a conspiracy of the Arians exists in Your Highness' lands, to lead the Palatinate to Talmudism and Mahommedanism?"
"Did you write this, Erastus?" asked the Kurfürst.
The exhausted man's whole body trembled, the words choked in his throat as he answered: "I have never written to Neuser.... as far as I can recollect.... He never asked me for credentials, and I never promised him any."
"Not even last summer, when Neuser used his vacation, in endeavoring to obtain an office in Transylvania?" asked the Amtmann.
"I know nothing about this. The letter is a forgery."
"Then these letters must also be forgeries," replied the Amtmann mockingly, handing over another bundle of papers to the physician. Erastus looked at them and turned pale. "These are letters from Bullinger to me, that is if you have not mixed some counterfeits with them."
The Amtmann turned to the Kurfürst. "From this letter of the Zurich Theologian may be gathered, how inimically and hostilely the accused was wont to speak to strangers of the Church Council of the Palatinate of which he was a member."
Erastus replied: "To strangers? I think I daily said to the Prince what I wrote to Bullinger."
The Kurfürst looked angrily at him: "That does not excuse your treachery. You are not allowed to calumniate my Counsellors to the Swiss. What more?" added he turning to the Amtmann.
"I found nothing else among the papers belonging to the Counsellor, but in a gipsire belonging to his daughter Lydia was this note, in which some unknown person makes an assignation with her of an evening on the secluded Holtermann, as he has important communications to make concerning her father." Violently did Erastus pluck the note from his hand. His head was dizzy. This then was the secret appointment which caused Lydia to dislocate her foot. In what terrible hands might his child find herself?
"How did the Maiden explain the note?" asked the Kurfürst coldly.
"She refused any explanation, till she had spoken with her father."
The Kurfürst laughed derisively. On this Erastus fell fainting to the ground. Busy the whole day previous, without his night's rest, hunted down since the early morning, fasting, prey to the most violent feelings, the sickly physician succumbed rather to anger, weariness, and exasperation than to fear.
"The best confession," said the Prince gloomily. "Take him to the Tower, but treat him gently. He has rendered me and the Palatinate good service; the Lord have mercy on him for wishing to undo them."
"And Your Highness will still not permit the question by rack to be used on the plainly obdurate prisoners, who are wilfully keeping back the truth from the authorities?"
"I will not longer stand in the way of the conduct of the trial," said the Prince sorrowfully. "Do nothing cruel except through strict necessity. But I will have light in this darkness. If yonder man betrayed me, whom indeed can I trust?"
The Prince left the room with an expression of the profoundest melancholy, the Amtmann however called in the pages from the ante-chamber, who raised up Erastus and sprinkled water over him, till he came to himself. But the wretched man only opened his eyes, in order to find himself taken off to the Tower. His look horrified all the inhabitants of the Castle, who saw him pale as death tottering off supported by two officers. "None but a convicted criminal could possibly look so broken down. The consciousness of his treachery is stamped upon his countenance," remarked the court servant Bachmann, who had formerly ever numbered among the friends of the Counsellor. "I never saw such a picture of an evil conscience. Man is a weak creature," he said consolingly to Barbara who appeared weeping at the door, "and the Devil always tempts the best most severely."
"Alas, how can I break this to my young mistress," cried the old woman. "Even the search through the house has nearly killed her."
CHAPTER VII.
As Lydia on that eventful day returned from her visit to Frau Belier, who had detained her rather longer than usual with her chattering, she found the old servant weeping in the ante-chamber. The Amtmann and a police officer were in her master's rooms, sobbed Barbara, opening all the drawers searching for papers in the writing desk and taking away whatever seemed good to them. Surprised and indignant Lydia entered the room and asked the Amtmann, what all this meant. Herr Hartmann comforted her with delicate compliments, which he later accompanied with vulgar familiarities. The angry girl pushed the blackguard from her as he attempted to stroke her cheeks, lisping something about the golden locks of Berenice. He however laughed mockingly: "We shall get to know each other better later on, my little dove will think better of all this. He, he, he. Be not so bashful, he, he, he." Lydia turned her back on him and went into the neighboring room to look for her father. But the Magistrate followed her even there, regretting that he was compelled to examine her personal property. "Look wheresoever it pleases you," said the indignant girl. But he had already felt the pouch, hanging at her side. Angrily she jumped back but the gipsire remained in his hands. At that moment she remembered that Laurenzano's letter of assignation was still in it. Alas! why had she not destroyed it sooner? With the courage of despair the frightened maiden threw herself on the impudent man endeavoring to regain her property, he however held the note high above his head and read it with malicious eagerness. "Ha! it is thus, on the Holtermann! The demure maiden will soon have to sing another tune," he said laughing mockingly, and whilst Lydia burst into tears, the scoundrel packed up the papers together and left the house. Lydia remained there thoroughly overwhelmed. In breathless anxiety, with beating heart she waited at her window to see her father on his return from his audience with the Prince. Only he could advise her in her distress, and compel the impudent official to return the letter. Every minute seemed an eternity. Finally after long hours of misery her father appeared at the gate of the new court. But how! Supported by two jailors, with a wild look and ruffled hair, almost a corpse. The terrified girl felt like throwing herself out of the window to reach her beloved father. She flew down the steps, to see him once again, before that he was torn away. Alas, even at the second landing she felt that she could never reach him. When she stood breathless in the court he had already disappeared. Loudly did she call her lost father's name, like a child astray in the woods. The neighbors looked out of their windows sympathizing with the weeping girl who had ever been a favorite in the castle. The stone figures above almost seemed to look down on her with pity. In her distress Felix appeared. The artist at that moment seemed to her like some messenger from God. In his arms was she able to shed her first soothing tears. "I will bring thy father back to thee," said Felix, "even if I must dig him out of the Tower with this dagger." Comforted she looked up at the strong bold man. But a hard hand was laid on her shoulder; Herr Hartmann ordered her to follow him to the Witches' Tower. "Whoever lays his hand on my affianced bride is a dead man," cried Felix, placing himself before Lydia in a determined manner; he had scarcely however made an attempt to draw his dagger, when he was knocked down on the stone pavement at the foot of the staircase. The cowardly Magistrate had wisely given the order, to watch the artist closely. A cunning blow from one of the officers felled Felix backwards down the steps, and when he again recovered his senses, he found himself near the well, with Bachmann and Barbara bathing a severe wound at the back of his head. "Where is Lydia?" asked the artist in a weak voice. Barbara wept and Bachmann answered for her: "Do not ask, no one ever returns from the place where she now is." Scarcely had Felix comprehended these words, than his entire consciousness and full strength returned. He ordered a damp cloth to be bound around his head, and went at once across the new court to lay his complaint before the Kurfürst. But the Page came back with the answer, he should apply to the Amtmann. He again prayed for admittance, not to complain of the injury done to himself, but to demand the restoration of his affianced bride; the officials refused however to announce him a second time, and on his endeavoring to force his way in, the sentries levelled their halberds at his breast. Dazed he returned back to the Burghof. He could do nothing however but storm ragingly in the ante-chamber in the presence of the Courtiers and the servants. He only met with disturbed faces, and heard half-uttered warnings, to be careful not to sympathize over much in a charge of witchcraft. In those moments, in which he found himself opposed to much cowardice and contemptible selfishness, he discovered in Frau Belier a faithful, brave, and prudent friend, who felt more than a lukewarm sympathy for Klytia. Having met with but deaf ears in the court, the young man hastened to the gable-house on the market-place. The Frenchwoman had ejaculated a series of "mon Dieu, mon Dieu," on hearing Felix's account of what had taken place. When however in his rage the Italian declared that nothing was left for him to do but to stab the villainous Amtmann in the open street, she plucked the dagger out of his belt and locked it up in her cup-board, assuring him that such a deed would be the most certain means of destroying Klytia. He listened unwillingly to the advice of the Chatterbox, who thus opposed all his plans. The screaming of the insupportable parrot, which the louder the talking became swung all the more contentedly on his ring, shrieking in shriller tones, put the young Maestro in such a rage, that he would willingly have killed it. Frau Belier warned him most decidedly against making any attack; the only person who could aid in this matter was the Countess at the Stift Neuburg, and the brave little lady hastened thither. Felix however rushed out again with a dim impulse of rendering himself useful to his friends. Restlessly he walked around the Witches' Tower, near which he found excited groups, looking up at the windows, but none could tell him on which side Lydia had been imprisoned. The heartless remarks made by the people cut him to the quick. "Dost thou really take the pretty fair-haired creature to be a witch?" he heard a young man ask in a commiserating tone. "The Devil likes pretty girls and is not content with old hags like the herb-picker," was the coarse answer. It was well, that Frau Belier had locked up his dagger, as otherwise he would have stabbed the man for this callous brutality. He asked an old man standing at his side, whether he believed that the young girl would be set at liberty.
"Ah! Sir," answered the old man. "I have now lived forty years opposite this Tower, and have never yet seen a prisoner come out of these doors except with racked limbs, and the most of them only on their way to the stake." When he saw how pale Felix grew and how his eyes rolled, he added, "My dear Sir, if you had been obliged, as I have been, to hear at night time the harrowing shrieks and dreadful moans of those being tortured, you would wish as I do, that those suspected should at once be burnt, for the idea, that perhaps an innocent person is being thus racked, is enough to drive one mad."
"And is there no help, none?" stammered Felix.
"If Lucifer himself, or the All-merciful God does not carry off the prisoners with the aid of His hosts through the air, none," said the old man, who with a "God bless you," returned to his house no longer able to continue a conversation on this dreadful subject.
"Through the air," stammered Felice looking up at the tower, he walked round it, he counted the windows. He believed it would be possible to climb into the Tower from the Garden of the Augustine convent without being noticed. He would thus from the upper rooms search cell after cell and run anyone through who prevented him from seeing Lydia. If he could not succeed in carrying her off, he would kill her first and then himself, or set the Tower on fire and perish in the flames in case they could not manage to escape in the confusion caused by the flames. After carefully considering the subject, he determined on a plan. An old chestnut tree at the back part of the Tower rendered it possible for an active and daring climber to reach a window, which he certainly could open. The way out must be down a rope ladder or with the help of a dagger. The young man was so lost in thought, that he did not notice that he was being watched. His plans for rescue could almost have been read on his face. Once it seemed to him, as if a man on the other side of the road stopped as if to address him. But looking across the individual turned his back. It was Pigavetta, Felix took no further notice. He hastily returned to his workshop in the Schloss, and after carefully examining his borers, chisels and saws, he set aside those which seemed to him to be the fittest, and then began to work at knotting together with trembling hand a rope ladder long enough to reach from the roof of the Witches' Tower to the ground.
In the meantime Frau Belier had hastened to the Stift Neuburg, and the news she brought caused not a little consternation to the Abbess as she sat in her dreary little room. "I shall immediately see the Kurfürst," said the old lady. "His grace will believe, that I know as well as this lewd Magistrate, whether a maiden who till lately was under the protection of these holy walls, is a child of light or espoused to the Devil. Oh! these exercitia, these exercitia," she added sighing, "they were the cause of all this misery."
A carriage was quickly harnessed and the good lady hurried together with the exiled Huguenot to the Castle as fast as the horses could gallop. "A rare visit, my Lady Cousin," greeted the Prince looking in astonishment at the two ladies. Quickly and earnestly did the Abbess explain the motives of her visit, and related what she herself had heard as the cause of Lydia's arrest. With a correct instinct she ascribed Lydia's adventure by night to the assignation made by Laurenzano, for the country people had immediately reported to the eagerly listening nuns the event which had taken place on the Kreuzgrund. The Kurfürst listened attentively. "That is a nice sort of fellow, that Pigavetta has brought into my dominions; but how did you come to know that he had a love affair with Erastus' daughter."
The Countess hesitated. But remembering that nothing less than the life of her darling pupil was at stake, she proceeded tremblingly and repentingly with her account of the dreadful exercitia which had led her to find out Paul's sentiments towards Klytia, and she exposed the false Priest all the more as she suspected that he himself had forged this accusation against Lydia, to revenge his unrequited love. "I never gazed into a blacker soul," she said shudderingly.
"In other words, my Lady Cousin," replied the Kurfürst angrily, "a punishment is once more being inflicted on you and others for having turned your Institution into a refuge for Papists. What has been reported to me is then true; you permitted this black traitor to perform secret masses."
The Countess remained silent and looked down confused. The Kurfürst Frederic, enraged at this discovery was about to dismiss the two petitioners without another word, had not Frau Belier, whose husband he knew to be a stern Huguenot, beseeched him most affectingly, not to permit the poor imprisoned Lydia to suffer for the sins of the wolf in sheep's clothing, he therefore added he that he would order the Amtmann to report to him.
"Oh, most Gracious Lord," prayed the lively Frenchwoman throwing herself on her knees before him, "you do not know the horrible treatment in the Witches' Tower. They will drive the poor child mad, they will frighten her to death, if she must pass the night there."
"Order must exist," said the Kurfürst. "Master Ulrich will be told that he will answer with his head for the safety of the maiden. No person must be allowed to enter her cell till the Magistrate comes in person to fetch her out. I myself will vouch, that no hair of her head shall be injured, if her innocence can be proved. She who however runs about the woods at night, and kisses parsons on the cross roads, cannot complain if the police lay hold of her. I am myself sorry for the pretty child, but for the moment I only know your side of the story, and not what the Magistrate may have to say. Till her trial is at an end, she may keep company with her father in the great Tower, and that is all I can do in the matter."
The ladies perceived that nothing more was to be obtained from the Kurfürst, and so as not to enrage the Prince against their protégée, they returned sadly homewards.
Towards evening Laurenzano called on Frau Belier, to demand back his dagger. "Your extravagant ideas would now answer no purpose," said the little woman, "for to-morrow Lydia will be moved to the Tower to be with her father, which is a kindness for her and him." She hastily related to the Neapolitan how she had managed to obtain this from the Kurfürst. But the passionate young artist swore by the eyes of the Madonna, that he would not suffer his affianced bride to be terrified for another hour in the dreadful tower, if he could prevent it, and he explained to her, the plans which he had formed for her rescue. "You are a fool with your plans," said the spirited little woman. "To set fire to the Tower, kill her, kill yourself, what is the use of such help for the poor child? And allowing that you could carry her off, where will you bring her to, and how thankful will she feel if through your foolery here her father's fate is rendered worse?"
The artist gazed at her in an inane manner and declared he must do something, if it were only to kill himself, but he could not endure the thought that Lydia was suffering and that he lived unable to help her. As Frau Belier saw that she could not move him from his plans she took to temporizing. "Wait then," she said, "till Lydia and her father are together and then save both at one and the same time."
"I cannot wait."
"Not wait till morning? Are you mad when it is a question of Lydia's life and happiness?" Felix bit his lips furiously.
"Filou Laurenzano," shrieked out the bird in a shrill voice. "Maladetto!" cursed the artist aiming in his blind rage a blow of the dagger which had been returned to him at the parrot, with unfortunately so good an effect that the head of the bird flew against the opposite wall, whilst the body with a fluttering of the wings fell to the ground. Loudly shrieked the Frenchwoman. "Detestable murderer, what has this poor creature then done to you, that you should slay it?" The artist looked about him with so much frenzy in his eyes, that the frightened woman forgot the bird and sprang away from the raving madman. "Oh well now," she called out, "murder me also, that will do much towards helping Lydia," and she burst into convulsions of tears.
Felix stared vacantly at the quivering body of the bird, and saw a red pool of blood tinging the floor. Finally he slowly passed both his hands over his eyes and forehead: "Pardon me, gracious lady, sorrow has turned my brain. You are right, I can undertake nothing now, till I am calmer myself. What you say is likewise true, Lydia will not fly with me without her father, and as all the plans of the Castle are in my hands, it will be easier for me to rescue father and daughter from the great Tower, than Lydia alone from the Witches' Tower." The little woman seemed apparently to agree eagerly with these views, in order to calm the maddened man. Her hope was, that the Kurfürst would set Lydia free the following day, and the conviction that the prudent Erastus would never undertake an attempt at flight calmed her as to that matter. So she dismissed Felix with the best wishes and rejoiced when she finally succeeded in getting rid of the lunatic. She then with bitter tears raised up the body of her many colored pet and kissed it. "How much I must love Lydia," she said, "that I did not scratch out the eyes of this wicked man. But he won't get off so easily." And she carefully dried up the blood of the bird with a fine cloth, and weeping laid the relic in an artistically carved box.
CHAPTER VIII.
The following morning a stormy scene took place in the private study of the Kurfürst in the new court. The Magistrate Hartmann Hartmanni was seeking refuge behind a leather backed arm chair to protect himself from the wrath of the Count of the Palatinate who pressed forward towards him, upbraiding him with flaming countenance.
"You shall set them all free," cried the thick set Kurfürst, "all. Do you understand?"
"If Your Gracious Highness would only remember," replied the obdurate Magistrate, "how great a calamity has come over the Palatinate through this pestilence. And now should those who have been proved in a certain measure to have introduced this pestilence through their devilish arts be set free, among their fellow creatures, the first who would fall victims to their wrath would be Your Highness' faithful servants who considered it necessary to oppose these sorceresses."
"Who has told you that this pestilence is the work of witchcraft?" replied the Kurfürst. "Only yesterday the Church Council reported to me in a long document--there it lies--that it was plain to all the world, that as a punishment for the blasphemies of the Arians in Ladenburg and Heidelberg the plague had broken out in Petersthal and Schönau, to-day witches and magicians are accused of being responsible for all this misery. Whom shall I believe, you or Olevianus?"
Herr Hartmann Hartmanni assumed a wise and deliberative expression. "Will Your Highness only consider that the one does not exclude the other. Through the veritable belief in God and the grace of God which accompanied this, the art of the witches was restricted and their hand enfeebled, scarcely however had Sylvanus, Neuser and Erastus tainted the land with their secret blasphemies, than the Almighty withdrew his countenance, and then the allies of Satan had free play. Or is it not then a fact, that immediately after the disclosure of the heresy, the magic arts came to the fore?" The Kurfürst shrugged his shoulders contemptuously. "If Your Grace does not believe me or the Church Council, the Juristical Faculties of Heidelberg or Tübingen might be called upon for a legal opinion."
"Go to the Devil with your Faculties," roared out the old gentleman, "who every year send hundreds to the stake for the Judas reward of twelve golden gulden. Where do you think the bones of Luther and Calvin would be to-day, if the Kurfürst of Saxony and the Honorable Council of the town of Geneva had requested the legal opinion of the University Jurists? Under heaven I know of no more venal people than those who live by their legal opinions."
"Then I can only think of the witch's test."
"What sort of test is that?"
"Let the young woman be thrown into the Neckar, should she rise to the top she is clearly a witch. Should she sink, then is she innocent and escapes prosecution."
"And if she drowns or dies of fright, do you bring her back to life again," asked the Kurfürst with an angry look.
"Then is nothing to be done," said the Magistrate surlily.
"If the herb picking woman was found with devilish vermin," said the Kurfürst, "sitting near the Holtermann or by the Linsenteich at a time of night when people are usually asleep, you can try her and execute her, but Erastus' daughter is to be set free to-day I tell you."
"Would Your Grace only condescend to take into His high consideration, what an evil impression would be produced, if the old witch were tried for being at night on the Kreuzweg, and the young woman known to be guilty of the same crime were set at liberty?"
The Kurfürst once more approached so close to the Amtmann that that worthy again withdrew behind his arm-chair. "I know you, Herr Amtmann," he said peremptorily. "I know of your amours in Ladenburg and Mosbach. You are lusting to proceed against a well made woman, to cut the hair from her body and do anything else which may come into your head, because you say, that otherwise the Devil has the power to strengthen her against the rack. You shall not touch with one of your fingers the pious child, whom I have seen praying every Sunday in my church, and I have often felt edified by her hearty worship, even when the discursive sermons of your spiritual friends were sickening to me. Is this harmless sweet young creature to be considered a devils' harlot? Who can be safe, if such a child is tried by torture?"
"But it has been proved," replied the Amtmann with unheard of obstinacy, "that this very maiden with her hypocritical appearance of virtue, used to walk about at night on the cross-road which of the whole neighbourhood has the worst repute. Three young men from Neuenheim, named by the old woman have confirmed all her statements. They have sworn upon oath to having met on a fine June night of this year Erastus' daughter on the Holtermann and to have wished to lay hold of her, the Maiden however floated on before them like a will-o'-the wisp, and when they thought to have seized her near the haunted ruins of the fallen Chapel she melted into thin air and disappeared."
The Kurfürst looked at the Magistrate with astonished eyes.
"I greatly fear," continued the latter, "that we have to do with one of those sorceresses known to the ancients as Empusæ. A gentle exterior attracts all the men to her; wherever she has been she has bewitched all hearts by her supernatural beauty. She resembles the witch of Bacharach with her golden hair, and perhaps she received like the latter this beauteous adornment as a reward for the homagium she paid to Satan." The Kurfürst made a displeased gesture, but the Amtmann continued: "Very suspicious things are said about her. Her maid has been heard to say among other things: that her young Mistress had a green dress which the longer she wore, the better it looked."
"Rubbish."
"In the Stift where I, privately of course, made some inquiries, she bore the name 'the bewitched maiden.' My instructions point out to me, to take particular notice of any who may be considered by public opinion to be concerned with magic. She has also often rocked herself backwards and forwards on the pump-handle, as does the witches' fiddler whenever he plays by the Saubrunnen for the witches' sabbath."
"Twaddle," grunted the old Prince.
"Indicium follows indicium. I have conducted the inquiry with the greatest care. Will Your Grace try and remember what a terrible whirlwind we had on the 4th hujus, which tore slates off roofs, blew down chimneys, and tore up the oldest trees in the park. The Morning of that very day, the young maiden drew water at sunrise out of the well, though she had previously passed the spring, where she could have provided herself more easily. This drawing was nothing but a pretext, to throw three sage-leaves into the well, which together with the repetition of a terrible incantation always calls forth a storm. On her return from this criminal walk she had a blood-red rose in a glass; the Castellan's maid, 'carotty Frances' she is called in the Schloss, asked her where she had picked the flower as no roses grew in the Court-yard, and what answer did the young damsel return? 'From the stone-wreath over your door'!"
"Servants' tales," said the Kurfürst disdainfully. "Of what use would a storm have been to her which broke in her fathers' windows as well as mine."
"She sought an opportunity of alluring the architect Laurenzano. When the storm burst she enticed him from the rocking scaffolding into her room, and got engaged to him at the very hour, when other Christian maidens were kneeling in terror at the sulphurous lightning and hellish stormwind."
The Kurfürst became pensive. "That was told me by Erastus himself," he thought. "The two circumstances look badly. Who are the three witnesses, before whom she rendered herself invisible?" he then asked of the Magistrate.
"The sons of the landlord of the Rose and Maier the Miller's apprentice from the valley of the Siebenmühlen."
"Bad characters, are they not?"
"Well that is as one thinks. The miller's apprentice is a hard-headed and daring fellow who fears neither witch nor devil. He has even overheard the black mass, performed near the white stone."
"What, do witches' conventicles take place in my dominions?" asked the Kurfürst horrified.
"Not two hours from Your Grace's own town." The eyes of the stout Count became larger and larger. "Your Highness knows the desolate table land above the spring of the valley of the Siebenmühlen; a barren mountain ridge, covered with thistles, blackberry bushes and strewn over with rocks. 'The white stone' is the name of this desolate spot. Near to this begins the wood which intersects the higher road. It was on Midsummer's day, the miller's man was tracking a stag, when his eye caught sight of a small fire. At first he thought it was a fire lit by the laborers, but on approaching he beheld two huge flames as high as towers, which illuminated the whole mountain with a red and yellow glow, and higher up on the lofty Nistler he beheld a similar yellow light. Around the fire he saw men and women dancing whose black figures, whenever they approached the red fire, stood plainly out so that their shadows reached right up to the crouching man. A curious sound of bells, which tingled to a great distance, whistles and viols sounded horribly exciting in the still night air. He had to restrain his legs forcibly, so that they should not dance likewise, said the man. Through the bushes he perceived masses of people crawling about in the dark. Suddenly the bush before which he stood was brilliantly illumined and he perceived a devil carrying a child's arm as torch, whose fat fed the flame. Behind this monster, who luckily for him had his back turned, came masked and veiled persons. He recognized no one. He felt so frightened that he threw himself full length on the ground and crawled slowly back to the wood. For the remainder of his life, added the young man, who has not been pampered by the Landsknechte and poachers, he will never forget the fright which he felt when creeping back. The moon shone pale, as if horrified at the atrocities which it saw. On the beech near a crossing, which had stood empty as he came, now sat a devil beating a drum with a fox's tail, so that it sounded afar off: tup, tup, tup. Behind him in the branches sat the fiddler, and played a dance as if to allure the crowd to this place. As the boy crawled past muttering a prayer, without suffering himself to be enticed, a devilish peal of laughter burst behind him and re-echoed through the entire valley. On the Holtermann were likewise four young witches, riding on brooms, and having lights stuck in their backs as signals for the others. He also heard the row of whistles, drums, galloping riders, and ungreased axles. On stoves, pitch-forks, brooms and sticks, in carts drawn by cats, or riding on hares, an army of witches swept close past him. Yelping dogs ran between his feet, and the wings of owls touched his cheeks, so that he lay there as dead through fright. On creeping further he saw in a ditch a well dressed company of ladies and gentlemen sitting round a table, on which smoked a splendid roast joint and game. The Devil himself sat at the head of the table and amused the company by playing the bagpipe on a black cat. He wore blue and red striped stockings, had a red beard, and a pointed hat adorned with colored ribbons and cock's feathers. As he looked with his fiery eye on the interloper, the latter called out in his fright: 'Oh thou holy and blessed Trinity.' The earth immediately gave a shock, so that the man fell down stunned and then only became aware that he was sitting close to a dead white horse and the bones of the hanged. The field-fare now crept about the ditch in the shape of toads, and the company disappeared in the bushes weeping and sobbing. From that place to the valley of the Seven Mills nothing more occurred, except that he met three hares, one of which had a body like that of a goat. Rendered more courageous the man called out to them: 'Stop thou sorceress in the name of the triune God.' On that they turned into three black ravens and flew away towards the Heiligenberg. Since then the Devil gets out of Maier's path like a whipped cur as he himself told me."
The Magistrate learned in humanity stopped talking and wiped the perspiration from his brow after this poetic harangue. At first the Kurfürst had looked astonished, then doubtful, and finally listened with scarcely concealed disgust. He now said deliberately: "If anything takes place in the least resembling what you have described, it is, because you permit so many lewd fellows to gather here, who are a torment to all honest people, jugglers, magicians, peddlars with pictures, quacks, spirit-conjurors, exorcists, and other vagrants who travel backwards and forwards between the Bishoprics on the Main and Rhine, a loose lot, who if they are not in league with the devil, are not very far from it."
"Vagrants would not mask or veil themselves. Most Gracious Sir," answered the Magistrate with a wise look.
"Well and why should Erastus' daughter have been one of those masks?"
"Your Highness knows of the note, by which, as her father maintains, Master Laurenzano makes an appointment with her on the Holtermann."
"Ah yes; and how does that scoundrelly Priest explain his invitation?"
The confused Magistrate cleared his throat: "I own that I have not as yet questioned him on the matter."
"How," roared the Prince. "You have not examined the chief witness? And in the meantime you destroy the character of an innocent maiden simply on the testimony of an old quean and of rascally scoundrels? You are indeed a model magistrate! Did you know that I have been told, that this Laurenzano caused the child all this misery by pretending he wished to speak with her of some important discoveries relating to her father, and yet you do not examine this man?"
"I wanted to do so," said the Amtmann hesitatingly, "but Pigavetta warranted his innocence. Besides this he alone maintains order in Schönau, so that he cannot yet be spared from there."
"Pretty justice," thundered out the enraged Prince. "You let the most guilty person escape scot free, and in the meantime wish to put the innocent body of a poor girl to torture; that is urgent, that cannot be put off! but the examination of witnesses is not of such importance. Beware, Herr Hartmann Hartmanni that I do not ever catch you again treading these slippery paths."
The Magistrate bowed his bald head with a terrified look. "Before all arrest this Italian Priest," repeated the Kurfürst.
"Herr Pigavetta says...." stammered the Magistrate.
"And I tell you," interrupted the infuriated Prince, "that I am beginning to feel suspicious of this Pigavetta. He smuggled in this disguised Jesuit. He wanted to recommend him to me as a tutor for my children. He informed my wife how thoroughly proficient this young man was in astronomy and astrology, and wanted to talk her over into looking into the future, which does not concern us mortal men, and certainly not young wives with old husbands. If this Herr Pigavetta thinks that he can insinuate himself everywhere in my house, he is much mistaken. And now that's enough. You lead the young girl to-day to her father in the Great Tower. There under the care of her father she will be safe from witches and from you. You have to cross-examine the Priest in Schönau as to his reason for enticing the maiden to the Kreuzweg, and how the matter stands as regards the miracles he is said to have performed in Schönau? If anyone of the whole lot appears to me worthy of being suspected of magic, it is that pale Parson, who occupies himself with astrology," and in concluding this speech the excited Count cast a look at the planetary Deities on the new building, under whose protection dwelt his young wife. "The whole day I have on the new building opposite Justice in stone ever before my eyes. I shall break its image to pieces, if I suffer even but once, Right to be trampled upon in my dominions."
The Magistrate bowed low and left the room with a crushed look. When out of the room he was about to open his mouth to ejaculate an oath, but his eye catching sight of a page, he made a grimace intended to represent a smile, as he descended the staircase.